Ratio of abundances of ciliates behavioral groups as an indicator of the treated wastewater impact on rivers

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 17; no. 10; p. e0275629
• Main Authors: Babko, Roman, Pliashechnyk, Volodymyr, Zaburko, Jacek, Danko, Yaroslav, Kuzmina, Tatiana, Czarnota, Joanna, Szulżyk-Cieplak, Joanna, Łagód, Grzegorz
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 17.10.2022; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Aquatic ecosystems; Biology and Life Sciences; Bottom sediments; Ciliates; Ciliophora; Discharge; Earth Sciences; Ecology and Environmental Sciences; Ecosystem; Ecosystems; Environmental aspects; Environmental Monitoring; Flow velocity; Health aspects; Maintenance and repair; Point source pollution; Pollution sources; Protozoa; Purification; River ecology; Rivers; Rivers - chemistry; Runoff; Sediments; Sewage; Swimming; Wastewater; Wastewater discharges; Wastewater treatment; Wastewater treatment plants; Water Pollutants, Chemical; Water Purification; Water quality; Water treatment; Water treatment plants; Poland
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0275629

A method for assessing the degree of impact of wastewater treatment plant discharge on receiving rivers was proposed, based on the structural indicators of the population of ciliated protozoa. It was shown that the ratio of attached, crawling and free-swimming forms in bottom sediments changes under the influence of discharge. In the points subject to organic pollution, the share of attached filter-feeding bacteriovorous ciliates increases in the assemblage of ciliated protozoa. The proposed Attached Form Index (AFI) takes this ratio into account. The use of AFI makes it possible to assess the restructuring of the assemblage of ciliated protozoa under the influence of point sources of pollution, to establish a zone of negative influence of runoff, to assess the degree of restoration of the aquatic ecosystem, as the influence of the pollution source weakened.